“MAD Narrowly Avoid Season Ending
In Damp Squib”
Match: 17
/ 444
Won
by 4 runs
|
Team |
Total |
|
FFTMCC |
135 - 4 |
|
I. Howarth 39*, J. Webster
30 |
|
|
|
|
|
FFTMCC |
131 - 4 |
|
M. Reeves 2 - 24 |
|
|
At 10:34 Jan Webster looked
out of his kitchen window and thought “really? Really??” Roughly four hours later, Richard Hadfield looked at
Jan Webster and had exactly the same thought. For the final game of
the season The MAD were taking on Isis CC, for just the fifth time this season. A win today would mean that The
MAD would only be 3-2 down this season against our nearest / dearest /
bitterest / best rivals.
Russ (standing) admires his labour of love: a new
MAD mobile scoreboard. That the game happened
at all was a miracle due to a number of factors, not
least of which was dealing with Oxford City Council. To say that things had
not run smoothly with the council this season would be an understatement.
First consider that the key to unlock the Cutteslowe pavilion has to be collected from the Parks office buried deep in
Cutteslowe Park, between 9:00 and 16:30 on a Friday. Then consider the
following conversations between ‘them’ and ‘us’. Conversation 1 Us: Oh
hello, just ringing to confirm the game booked for this Sunday. Them: I’ll
just check the diary, no nothing there, what name was it under? Us: FFTMCC,
booked three months ago, I have the confirmation email in front of me. Them: No,
nothing there, but Sunday does look free, no it’s a Wednesday, oh hold on,
I’m looking at the wrong month. Conversation 2 Them: Hello,
message for FFTMCC, unfortunately your game this evening has been cancelled
due to the weather. Us: We’re
not playing this evening, we’re playing tomorrow, I have the confirmation etc
etc etc. Them: Oh
yes, there you go, was looking at the wrong day. Conversation 3 Them: Hello,
message for FFTMCC, we understand that you booked the pavilion for a game of
cricket on Sunday. We assumed that the game would start around 7am and be
finished by lunchtime, so we’ve given the afternoon booking for an 80th birthday
party, but don’t worry, we definitely won’t cock up the refund for this and
then badger a guy who’s not the
treasurer, trying to get him to overpay for the last game of the season for
some convoluted reason which probably involves trying to hide this mistake.
The other reason the
game was in doubt was the weather, which has a distinctly autumnal feel to
it. In light of the dire warnings coming from the Met Office, skipper for the
day, Russell Turner, took the very sensible decision to limit the game to 25
overs, with tea to be taken afterwards. Despite the sunshine on the Friday,
the council had been unable to prepare a wicket and therefore we were on the
artificial pitch. Both teams assembled
shortly before 1pm, for an early start, Russ arriving with minutes to spare
from a Bristol wedding, having made a round trip via the Fineprint offices to
hunt down a set of stumps, considered vital to the afternoon’s entertainment. Treasurer Mike turned up
and triumphantly unlocked the bottom lock on the pavilion, having secured the
key for the deepest, darkest recesses of Cutteslowe Park. He then attempted
to unlock the top lock on the door. Then Ian had a go, then Dave, then we
considered putting a brick through the pavilion window. Ian, sensing Mike’s
rapidly deteriorating mental state quickly removed him from the situation for
a quick jaunt around the vicinity. What a lovely place Cutteslowe is, with
football pitches, play areas, garden centres, but unfortunately no sign of a
groundsman. As the mood darkened further, some players with a never say die attitude donned their
whites in the public toilets (below). Finally Ian and Mike spoke to the guys
running the model railway who very helpfully provided the number for a man,
who possibly spoke to another man who turned up and silently undid the top
locks, hurrah, we were in.
Throughout this whole
sorry affair, there was one bright light. An oasis of competence in a desert
of ineptitude. A lone voice of efficiency and good humour. Kathy, we salute
you, thanks for putting up with everything including our whinging. So to the game and as a
light drizzle fell intermittently, The MAD were glad to be batting as most of
the team could huddle in the pavilion as a few hardy souls scored and
umpired. Webster (30) anchored the innings with opening partner Williams (16)
who applied his customary high run rate. Next in was Richard Hadfield (1),
who had his parents watching from the warmth and dryness of their parked car.
It was a big day for Richard, who hadn’t played due to injury since June,
following some blistering early season form. He was looking good until shorn
off by Webster for a run that never was. Never mind, only another seven
months to stew on that one. In totally unrelated news, Jan later had his bike
nicked, whilst he was batting and Lucan was stewing. Oxford police are
searching the vicinity and Interpol are checking flights to South America.
A picture is sometimes worth a 1,000 words. Thorn (12) had a nice
little cameo, including a wonderful reverse sweep that was cruelly marked
down as byes. Then came two players out of form this season. First Turner (25
n.o) and then Howarth (39 n.o)
showed that class is permanent and found some nice form to carry them through
until the clocks go forward again. As Shorten and Reeves sat padded up and
chatting amiably in the pavilion, the consensus was that we were possibly 15
runs short at 135 off of the 25 overs.
The iconic Smith forward defensive. In reply, Isis were bang
on the rate throughout, never exceeding or falling behind the required 5.4
runs per over. Bowlers Shorten (5-0-21-0), Reeves (5-0-24-2), Roberts
(5-0-27-0), Rundle (5-0-32-1), Smith (3-0-18-1) and Howarth (2-0-8-0) all
struggled with a soggy and swelling ball, whilst wearing slippy trainers on
the wet ground. There were a couple of turning points, with the openers
Walter (45) and Blatchford (42) falling respectively to a good catch from
Williams and a great bowled from Rundle. However the match really turned on
the third to last over as Shorten allowed just two or three runs (the
scorebook doesn’t record.) He then followed it up with a miserly final over
and The MAD had held on by just four runs. It was then a quick tea, a decent
shower, dropping the key back to the wilds of Cutteslowe Park and we were all
done by 17:30. Just as well, as that’s when the heavens opened.
Wyatt bowling to Williams. Well, a win’s a win and
the good humour during and after the game probably tips the balance in to
keeping this fixture for future seasons. Thanks Isis, see you again and again
and again and again, next year. So, reflections on the
2017 season? You’ll have to wait for the new
MAD book to find out. Watch this space. ‘Reevsie’
|
*
Statto Scorecards
|
Far from the MCC versus Isis
CC Played at Cutteslowe Park, 10 September
2017 Isis CC won the toss and elected to field Far from the MCC won by 4 runs Far from the MCC debuts: none |
17 / 444 25 over match |
|
Team |
Far from the MCC |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
# |
Batsman |
How Out |
Total |
Balls |
4s |
6s |
FOW |
|
1 |
J. vdG. Webster |
b Malcolm |
30 |
(51) |
3 |
- |
4-67 |
|
2 |
C. T. J. Williams |
c Blatchford b Naqvi |
16 |
(19) |
1 |
- |
1-26 |
|
3 |
R. J. T. Hadfield |
run out |
1 |
(3) |
- |
- |
2-31 |
|
4 |
T. P. W. Smith |
c East b Naqvi |
12 |
(18) |
2 |
- |
3-66 |
|
5 |
R. P. Turner * |
not out |
25 |
(28) |
1 |
- |
- |
|
6 |
I. Howarth |
not out |
39 |
(31) |
4 |
- |
- |
|
7 |
D. Shorten |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
8 |
M. K. Reeves |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
9 |
J. C. W. Hotson † |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
10 |
M. S. Rundle |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
11 |
C. D. Roberts |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Extras |
W9, LB1, B2 |
12 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
TOTAL |
(for 4 wickets, 25 overs) |
135 |
|
|
|
|
|
# |
Bowler |
Overs |
Maidens |
Runs |
Wkts |
Econ |
|
|
1 |
Ponsford |
5 |
1 |
23 |
0 |
4.60 |
|
|
2 |
Wyatt |
5 |
0 |
26 |
0 |
5.20 |
|
|
3 |
Naqvi |
5 |
0 |
14 |
2 |
2.80 |
|
|
4 |
East |
5 |
0 |
33 |
0 |
6.60 |
|
|
5 |
Malcolm |
5 |
0 |
36 |
1 |
7.20 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Team |
Isis CC |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
# |
Batsman |
How Out |
Total |
Balls |
4s |
6s |
FOW |
|
1 |
O. Walter |
c Williams b Smith |
45 |
|
3 |
- |
2-111 |
|
2 |
L. Blatchford |
b Rundle |
42 |
|
3 |
1 |
1-74 |
|
3 |
A. Bevan |
not out |
17 |
|
1 |
- |
- |
|
4 |
P. Wiblin |
b Reeves |
7 |
|
- |
- |
3-118 |
|
5 |
A. Symons |
b Reeves |
2 |
|
- |
- |
4-121 |
|
6 |
R. Kella † |
not out |
4 |
|
- |
- |
- |
|
7 |
M. Naqvi |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
8 |
A. East |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
9 |
N. H. R. Wyatt * |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
10 |
K. Malcolm |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
11 |
K. Ponsford |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Extras |
NB5, W4, LB5 |
14 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
TOTAL |
(for 4 wickets, 25 overs) |
131 |
|
|
|
|
|
# |
Bowler |
Overs |
Maidens |
Runs |
Wkts |
Econ |
|
|
1 |
Shorten |
5 |
0 |
21 |
0 |
4.20 |
|
|
2 |
Reeves |
5 |
0 |
24 |
2 |
4.80 |
|
|
3 |
Roberts |
5 |
0 |
27 |
0 |
5.40 |
|
|
4 |
Rundle |
5 |
0 |
32 |
1 |
6.40 |
|
|
5 |
Smith |
3 |
0 |
18 |
1 |
6.00 |
|
|
6 |
Howarth |
2 |
0 |
8 |
0 |
4.00 |
|
|
MOTM: I. Howarth Champagne Moment: M. S. Rundle’s bowling
of Blatchford Buffet
Award: M. S. Rundle’s sweet potato,
chickpea & spinach curry MAD
Moment: C. T. J. William’s dress
rehearsal for catch, rolling of sleeves and drop |
Opposition:
V009 / 30 Ground: G001 / 36 Captain: C024 / 15 Match No: OT / 030 |